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5 from 3 votes

Double Crusted Chicken Pot Pie

Comfort food at its best. The crust ingredients are adapted from America's Test Kitchen.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Course: dinner
Cuisine: American, English, French
Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the Crust:

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 12 tablespoons cold, diced unsalted butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup sour cream

For the White Sauce:

  • 1/3 cup butter (salted or unsalted)
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Grinds of black pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves, or to taste
  • 2 1/2 cups hot milk (or, use a combination of milk and chicken stock)

For the Chicken and Vegetables:

  • 10 ounce bag frozen peas and carrots
  • 1/2 to 1 cup diced onion (frozen works well)
  • 2 cups cut-up cooked chicken

For glazing the crust:

  • 1 egg, beaten

Instructions

Making the pastry dough:

  • Put the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process briefly just to combine. Add the butter, and pulse approximately 5 times to break up the butter. Stir the egg and sour cream together in a small cup, then add to the flour mixture. Process until the dough just begins to mass on the blade (don't overmix) -- 15-20 seconds. Form the dough into a ball, and then flatten it into a disk. Wrap the disk in cling film and refrigerate for at least one hour (or freeze for up to 2 months).

Rolling out the pastry dough:

  • Let the dough sit out for approximately 10 minutes. Then cut the dough in half. On a lightly-floured surface or pastry cloth, roll each half into a 12-inch-diameter circle. Transfer one circle to a 9-inch pie pan; place the remaining circle on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Put the pie pan and baking sheet in the refrigerator while you make the white sauce and filling.

The white sauce and chicken filling:

  • Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position; preheat the oven to 450°F. Meanwhile, melt the 1/3 cup butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the 1/3 cup flour. Whisk the flour and butter together until the mixture bubbles and darkens slightly -- about 1 minute. Add the hot milk, and whisk constantly until the sauce boils and thickens -- about 1 minute.
  • Off heat, whisk in the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and tarragon. Use a spatula to fold in the frozen peas and carrots, the onion, and finally, the chicken. Taste carefully for seasonings -- you might like to add more salt and/or pepper.

Assembling the pie:

  • Pour the chicken mixture into the pastry-lined pie pan. Place the remaining crust over the filling. Roll edges under, and flute to seal. Cut 4 slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape.
  • Brush the crust with the beaten egg.

Baking, cooling, and serving the pie:

  • Bake on the lowest rack in the preheated 450°F oven until the crust begins to color -- 18-20 minutes. Then lower the heat to 375°F and continue baking until the crust turns golden-brown -- 12-15 minutes. Allow the pie to cool until the filling sets up -- 45 minutes to 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.